Sandston Baptist turns 85

The little village – located a mere 40 minutes from Richmond by electric trolley car – was fast growing into a bustling suburb during the post-World-War-I decade.

High time, said community members, that Sandston had a new place of worship. And on September 26, 1926, forty-one of those community members gathered to adopt and sign a covenant for Sandston Baptist Church.

For the first few years, the new congregation worshipped in the old Sandston Elementary School. Two lots on Pickett Avenue were purchased for $200 from the Richmond-Fairfield Railway Company, and the basement of a building was completed in 1931. But with the country entering the Great Depression, and church members owing $2000 on the basement, they could build no further.

By the time the congregation paid off the debt and began planning an addition to the basement, World War II was underway, and progress remained at a standstill. The basement would serve as sanctuary, dining hall and Sunday school classrooms for almost two decades.

Thelma Moore remembers those basement services well.

Having married “Sandston boy” Bernard Moore in 1947, she attended her first Sunday worship soon after. Coming from a much larger church in Richmond (Grace Baptist, then located at Boulevard and Grove), she was taken aback by the relatively tiny congregation and the cramped quarters.

“There were less than 100 people, but we were crowded in that basement,” she recalls. During Sunday School, the classrooms were separated by noisy roll-up doors; when the classes ended, a bell would ring. “Then we pushed up the doors,” says Moore, “and turned our chairs around [to face the pulpit for worship].

“It was a big adjustment for me.”

No reading allowedHaving worked in the “beginner department” (pre-kindergarten Sunday school) at Grace, Moore was quickly recruited to do the same at Sandston. She remembers teaching up to a dozen children in classrooms she described as “teeny”; the kitchen doubled as a nursery, and the floors were concrete.

After she became pregnant with twins, Moore says, her Sunday school lessons lapsed for awhile. “I was so large and so sick, I didn’t come much.”

But she was back in the classroom not long after the birth of her daughters, and eventually took over Training Union, a youth education program. “There was no paid staff,” she says. “Just four of us ladies working together in Training Union.”

At nine and ten years of age, the children in Training Union learned to take charge of church programs -- even becoming pastors for a week and handling other adult duties.

“A lot of them learned their first public speaking there [in Training Union],” says Moore. “They preached -- and believe you me they didn’t read it! Old Lady Moore made them learn it,” she says with a laugh.

At least three alumni of SBC’s Training Union went on to become ministers, Moore says. She is also proud to claim Jo Lynne DeMary, former state superintendent of public instruction, as a past pupil.

“She was one of my girls,” Moore says fondly of DeMary. “It was a joy to see them grow.”

A storied historyAfter 1949, when the roof was removed from the basement to add a sanctuary, SBC grew by leaps and bounds. Sunday school classes became so crowded in the 1950s that additional nearby lots and houses were purchased and a new education building was constructed. By the 1970s, the congregation needed a multi-purpose building, and Moore served on the building committee for what became the Bosher-Gray building. BG, as it is called, was named for teen members Robbie Bosher and Bruce Gray, who were killed in an automobile accident the year the building opened.

Since then, the church has expanded into a spacious new sanctuary (built in 1995) and two Sunday services. And Moore -- her twins long since grown and gone – has been involved with almost every aspect and committee along the way. “I’ve scrubbed floors and cut shrubbery . . . cooked meals for 200 people when Bosher-Gray opened. I got my husband to plant those trees around the building when they were just saplings,” says Moore, indicating several large, mature trees that surround the church today.

In her 63 years at the church, Moore has also come to think of it as a second home.

“When I came to Sandston Baptist Church,” she says, “I was ‘Bernard Moore’s wife.’ Then I was ‘the twins’ mom.’ And when they went off to college I got to be Thelma Moore!”

As the church prepares to celebrate its 85th birthday Sept. 18, Moore -- who is the same age as the church -- concedes that she has had to cut back on involvement as mobility becomes more difficult.

But she is still active on the flower committee, and passionate about supporting such programs as the Woman’s Missionary Union and Camp Alkulana.

Over the years, SBC and associated churches have redeemed enough soup labels to provide the camp, which serves inner city youth, with everything from computers and a PA system to sports equipment. Moore’s role? Collecting, cutting and counting the thousands of labels donated by church members.

“Just last Saturday we mailed off 8000 UPC’s [universal product codes],” says Moore. “It’s something elderly people can do; we can’t get up and run out to meetings at night [any more].”

Asked to name some favorite memories of her 63 years at the church, Moore reminisces about holiday events and decorations, from the hanging of greens at Christmastime to a memorable Easter pageant starring deacons as the disciples and featuring a foot-washing.

But her fondest memories of all, Moore says, are the fellowship dinners.

She chuckles as she describes a recent get-together at which church members pored over piles of photos to select a few for an anniversary slide show. It was hard not to notice, she says, that most of the pictures were taken at fellowship dinners.

“Thirty-five hundred pictures,” exclaims Moore. “And in 3,000 of them we were eating!”

Appropriately, the 85th anniversary celebration will feature ample food and fellowship, beginning with a coffee and donuts social and concluding with a covered dish luncheon. Moore wouldn’t dream of missing it, and looks forward to breaking bread with new friends as well as reuniting with old.

“I just hope that in some way I’ve helped the church grow. That’s my biggest wish.”

Sandston Baptist Church will celebrate its 85th anniversary Sept. 18 with a single service at 10:30 a.m., which will include a time of prayer, music by the praise team and choir, a presentation by the MajeSticks (Youth Department), a children’s sermon, a church history review, and recognition of previous staff members. The message will be delivered by Pastor Karl Heilman.

To allow for a time of fellowship in the hallway between the sanctuary and educational building from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., there will be no Sunday school classes. Coffee and donuts will be available during that time. The service will be followed by a covered dish luncheon, for which the church will provide meat, dessert, and drinks. For details, visit sandstonbaptistchurch.com.

RAMPS (Ramp Access Made Possible by Students) recently received an $8,000 grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The award was one of 75 grants totaling more than $600,137 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide more opportunities, access, and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families and caregivers.

RAMPS, an organization founded by then-Henrico County high school students to build ramps for local low-income residents who need them, will use the grant to purchase modular wheelchair ramp supplies. These supplies will be used by local high school RAMPS clubs, who provide volunteers to build the ramps. > Read more.

Henrico resident Larry Loving, Jr., will compete with three other locals – Thomas Scribner (Richmond), Roscoe McGhee (Midlothian) and Larry Loving (Richmond) in the Liberty Mutual Insurance Invitational National Finals at TPC Sawgrass, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Feb. 26-Mar. 1. The foursome qualified for the national golf tournament by winning the Liberty Mutual Insurance Invitational, held at Whiskey Creek Golf Club in Ijamsville, Md. on June 11. That event supported the RiteCare Center for Childhood Language Disorders.

The Henrico Police Athletic League (PAL) held its Sixth Annual Awards Banquet Feb. 5 at The Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, celebrating accomplishments of 2014 and recognizing outstanding contributions to the organization. Henrico County Juvenile Domestic Court Judge Denis Soden served as master of ceremonies and former Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams served as keynote speaker.

Among the 2014 honorees were Richmond International Raceway (Significant Supporter), Richmond Strikers Soccer Club (Significant Supporter), Henrico County Schools-Pupil Transportation (Summer Camp Supporter), Bruce Richardson, Jr. (Youth of the Year), Sandra Williams (Volunteer of the Year), Thomas Williams (Employee of the Year), Mikki Pleasants (Board Member of the Year), and Michelle Sheehan (Police Officer of the Year). > Read more.

It was another win for Willow Lawn when Travinia Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar opened there six months ago, nestled in the heart of the re-made shopping center. The contemporary American Italian restaurant boasts 13 locations up and down the East Coast, with the Henrico location opening in August.

In the same week, I hit up Travinia twice, once for lunch and once for a late dinner. At lunchtime on a weekday, I was overwhelmed by the smell of garlic and by the number of working professionals in nice suits on their lunch breaks. When we first walked in, I was concerned our meal would be a little too pricey based on the décor – it’s a really nice place. Luckily, the menu has a variety of options for every budget. > Read more.

There’s a ton of sugar in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Literal sugar, as SpongeBob Squarepants (Tom Kenny) and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) inhale their own weight in cotton candy and eat ice cream, one scoop per mouthful.

At one point we burrow into the brain of our boxy yellow hero and discover the inner workings of his brain: googly-eyed cakes and candies that giggle and sing. All of which is extremely appropriate for a film like Sponge Out of Water. Because not only is the movie sweet (the “awwww” kind of sweet), but it’s the equivalent of a 30-candy bar sugar rush, zipping between ideas like a sponge on rocket skates.

The story under all this is really not that complicated. SpongeBob flips burgers at the Krusty Krab. > Read more.

With this last round of snow still fresh on the ground, the best way to start the weekend may be at Southern Season for their weekly wine-tasting program, Fridays Uncorked. Families with cabin fever will enjoy the Richmond Kids Expo, taking place tomorrow at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Some date night options include the Rock & Roll Jubilee at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, HATTheatre’s production of “The Whale” and National Theatre Live’s “Treasure Island” at the University of Richmond. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.